Aug 2

Aug 2 Need a ride? SacRT launches bus you can call with a phone app

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On Aug. 1, SacRT launched a new on-demand microshuttle serving south Sacramento. The new shuttle is one of 12 SacRT plans to have up and running within the next year.

These shuttles represent a rethinking of public transit as a more flexible service that comes to people where they are rather than traveling a fixed route. Buses will pick up passengers anywhere in a zone that stretches from Cosumnes River College to Sacramento City College and drop them off wherever they want to go. This will enable SacRT to better compete with rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft, which have siphoned passengers from traditional buses and trains.

The south Sacramento shuttles can be summoned from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. using the free TransLoc Microtransit App, by phone at 916-556-0100 or online at ondemand.transloc.com. Fares are the same as for ordinary buses; $2.75 per trip and $1.35 for seniors and others eligible for discounted fares.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said SacRT is "demonstrating that while traditional transit and bus service will remain at the core, we have to change with the times and offer people transit where they are."

"We're taking on Uber and Lyft, and we're going to beat them because we're just as convenient and we cost less," said Sacramento County Supervisor Patrick Kennedy, who serves as chair of the SacRT board.

SacRT is funding operation of the microshuttles with $12 million from the Sacramento Transit Authority.

For now, the shuttles are gasoline powered, but the transit agency is working to replace them with electric vehicles. The south Sacramento shuttle will be supplied with electric vehicles by Electrify America, the Volkswagen-funded initiative that will bring hundreds of new electric vehicles to Sacramento, along with banks of chargers and an electric shuttle between downtown Sacramento and UC Davis.